2008

2007

Crowdfunding Platforms Raised Almost $1.5B in ’11, Up 72% Y-O-Y

May 9, 2012 - by MarketingCharts staff

Crowdfunding platforms (CFPs) raised $1.47 billion in 2011, up 72% from $854 million in 2010, and almost tripling the $530 million raised in 2009, finds massolution in a May 2012 report. The study predicts worldwide funding volume to almost double this year to $2.8 billion, driven by a 300% growth in equity-based (for financial return) and reward-based (for non-financial rewards such as tokens) crowdfunding, with lending-based (75%) and donation-based (50%) funding also to experience solid growth.

The report defines lending-based funding as a crowdfunding model in which funders receive fixed periodic income and expect repayment of the original principal investment.

Number of CFPs Booms

Data from the “Crowdfunding Industry Report” indicates that as of April 2012, there were an estimated 452 crowdfunding platforms active worldwide, forecast to grow to 536 by the end of the year, representing a 60% year-over-year increase. The majority of CFPs are based in North America, with a high concentration also seen in Europe.

The reward-based category is the largest in terms of the number of CFPs, while the lending-based category is the smallest. Basing the analysis on a sample of 143 CFPs, the report determines that the donation-based (50%) and lending-based (41%) categories are growing at a relatively similar pace, though both markedly slower than the reward-based category, which boasts a 79% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The equity-based category sports the fastest growth rate, at 114%.

Other Findings:

The total number of crowdfunding campaigns in 2011 reached close to 1.2 million, with almost all occurring in North America (532,000) and Europe (654,000).

Equity-based crowdfunding platforms produce the largest amount of funds on a per-project basis. 21% of the funds raised by these platforms in 2011 were for projects that drew $250k or more in funding, compared to just 6% for projects that drew less than $10k in total funding. (Note that this is based on a small sample size of 10 CFPs.)

Donation-based and reward-based crowdfunding platforms draw the lowest levels of funding per project. 63% of the funds raised by these platforms were paid out to projects that drew less than $5k in funding. (This data is based on a sample size of 25.)

It takes 2.84 weeks on average across all categories (from a sample of 83) to raise the first quarter of the funding goal, and 3.18 weeks on average to raise the last quarter. Lending-based campaigns take about half as much time to complete (4.8 weeks) as equity-based (10 weeks) or donation-based campaigns (10.2 weeks).

42% of CFPs (from a sample of 60) charge a transaction fee based on a percentage commission of funds paid out.

About the Data: The Crowdfunding Industry Report is based in part on an industry survey conducted in Q1 2012 by Crowdsourcing.org, with analyses conducted by Crowdsourcing LLC’s research and advisory business, massolution, and significant research conducted via other reliable sources to complete the profiling of the global crowdfunding industry. The survey received over 170 responses from selected participants from Crowdsourcing.org’s Directory of Crowdfunding Sites, which contained 452 active crowdsourcing platforms at the time the survey was conducted. As the basis for the analyses, 135 submissions were selected from CFPs, based on a determination of being both comprehensive and high-integrity.